Dear Reader,

You might be wondering why the Sikhs, who played key role in South Asia's struggle for freedom, opposing its fragmentation on basis of religion, are today fighting to carve out a separate Sikh state, the Republic of Khalistan. Looking back at the history of India since its independence on August 15, 1947, you will find that betrayals, exploitations, injustices and atrocities by the fascistic rulers of India have forced this parting of company on us.

When the freedom struggle was started by the All India Congress Committee in 1919, its leaders made unequivocal promises that the Sikhs will enjoy equality with the majority community in all respects, that they will have complete autonomy to run the affairs of their homeland, and that there will be no discrimination against them on the basis of religion.

Since inheriting power from the British in 1947, however, the Congress has persistently violated these promises.

• Instead of allowing autonomy, the Indian rulers have fragmented our homeland to create Hindu-majority states of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, thus depriving the Punjab of vast territories and natural resources.

• Instead of being treated as equals, we have been reduced to second class citizens.

• Instead of being treated fairly, we are discriminated against in all walks of life simply because we subscribe to a faith different from that of the majority community.

When our leaders protested against these betrayals, and demanded that the promises made before independence be honoured, they were arrogantly told that the promises could not be honoured

“because the situation has changed”

Thousands of the protesters were jailed and hundreds of them killed by the Indian Government agencies till 1982. Obviously in a bid to crush our spirits and make us reconcile with the lot as second class citizen's and slaves.

False accusations were made, against us to make the world believe that the Sikhs were lawless hooligans, acting to destabilise India.

When, instead of being cowed down by these high handed measures, a protest movement was launched in 1982 to mobilise the Sikh masses to press their just demands, the Indian rulers stepped up the repression of Sikhs.

This repression culminated in the Indian Army's Operation Bluestar in 1984, in which our shrines were desecrated, thousands of innocent civilians massacred and thousands more imprisoned and the entire Sikh nation subjected to tortures and humiliations by the Indian Security Forces.

Since the start of our WAR OF INDEPENDENCE in 1984, the Indian rulers have:

• Stepped up their vicious propaganda to convince the world. that the Sikh freedom fighters are lawless terrorists;

• Sponsored gangs of convicted criminals to rob and kill innocent civilians, so that the Sikhs can be blamed for these atrocities;

• Killed thousands of Sikh youths under false pretexts of encounters with the security Forces; and

• Used the Indian trade potential as a lever to pressurise world Governments against us.

This, dear reader, is only a brief outline of why we opted out of the Indian stranglehold and started our struggle to liberate Khalistan.